He was ten years old when he saw a strange woman move into a small cottage in his underground cavern, the one he'd discovered in the forest behind his family's farm three years ago and where he hid when his parents got too angry. He didn't know if the woman would be nice to him, so he stayed just far enough so she wouldn't notice him.
Sometimes the woman talked to someone. He didn't know who it was. The woman would go in and out of the cavern, but no-one else ever did. Sometimes though, he could hear a young girl singing. One day, when he saw the woman leave, for the market he presumed, he tip-toed up to the window. There was a girl inside, the age of his newly-married sister, who look quite miserable. She had long hair, the longest he'd ever seen in his life, longer than he'd imagined possible. It was thick, gold, and beautiful. He ran off, afraid of what might happen if the woman came back and saw him.
He started keeping record of the woman's routine so he could avoid her and made sure his parents couldn't find it. He ran up to woman's cottage a few times and eventually the girl saw him. He was nervous, but she never told the woman he'd been there.
One day she invited him became friends, though she was very sad and quiet. Mostly, she just liked to listen to him. He told her about his family and she grew upset. She said that the woman was not her mother, which made him very confused. She explained that she was a princess, taken from her family and locked in a tower. A man she loved had tried to save her, but the woman killed him and took her away. He'd never hated anyone, except his parents, but he hated the woman.
Eventually the woman got in trouble. He wasn't sure what she'd done, but he heard the word "witch" tossed around in the nearby village when his mother sent him on errands.
The woman must have told the girl, because she knew about it and saw an opportunity. The woman was tried, but confessed to nothing, so she was thrown in jail. That very morning, the girl asked him to run away with her, away from his own troubles. He eagerly accepted. They packed up and left at dusk.
They walked a great distance, until nothing was familiar. It must have been near winter, not that he could tell for sure, because each day was colder than the last. They stopped in villages sometimes, for food and warm shelter. He didn't know where they were going but he happily followed her.
It was the day before Easter Sunday when a man told them of a city, where the queen and king mourned a lost princess. The girl wept, but she was also happy. She said they had to go to that city. So they went back on the road.
There was blizzard that night. The snow came softly at first, then heavier and did not stop. The girl found a cave for them to hide in, but the wind invited itself in. She covered them both in every article of clothing they had and wrapped herself around his little body to keep him warm.
He didn't expect either of them to live, but he woke up the next morning. The girl was gone and he never saw her again. He wandered until he saw a large mansion, the home of an rich old couple. He asked them if they'd seem her, for she was impossible to miss, but they said no. So he stayed with them. The neighboring villagers loved his story, of the wandering Tower Princess, and they told it forever.
Eugene never knew to girl's name, but he remembered how much she cried when he told her his.